Galaxy Note Ownership report

Previously phones were meant to make calls , Not anymore. A phone is more personal and a lot more than just what it could do 5 years back. 2010 and i got into Android phones. HTC Desire , Samsung Galaxy S , Samsung galaxy S2 , and Now the Samsung Galaxy Note. In the last 11 + years , when i started to use cellphones , this is the first time that iv bought phones back to back from the same manufacturer. Let me cut that here and tell you about the Note. What exactly is the Note. Its Big , Bad , Bulky and Mean . USP:Its display 5.3" Super Amoled display .Which is not really uncomfortable holding in Ur hand. Its Not easy to hold it and operate it in a single hand. Easy of use is when u want to type or make calls , U just cannot make mistake , its so damn comfortable with the keys spaced out well. Display makes it so easy for media and photos.Once you start to get used to this display , Using another smaller phone , even the 4.3 inch feels really smaller , By no means the s2 is small or incapable , But The Notes sheer power of processing or display makes it "feel" better. There is a big lag in the scrolling with the Tw Launcher or with any 3rd party launcher. S2 seems way more polished in every aspect in terms of S/w. Another big dislike is that not all apps in the market support the 800*1280 HD resolution. So the apps fit in just half the screen " example:Flipkart". very few apps like this , Not all. The music player Quality on earphones is way better on Note than S2. The speaker Output/volume is low. Poor. battery is 2500 mah n the back up is very good. no custom development has started yet on large scale , so stock rom is very boring. S pen: A show off feature where u can draw. But i really dont use it at all. Overall..Its a very good phone ..too big a phone . too small a tablet.

My Karizma R

FInally after so many years of waiting to own a Karizma, managed to get one home that i can call mine.

Color-Yellow
Year -2007
Kms Done- 16000
Bike Condition--Stock and Well maintained ..

Changes done to my liking ..
Tires -- Michelin M45 front and rear.
Lights--HID 35W Bi Xenon
Spark plug- NGK Platinum
Suspension--Stiffer springs in the front so that the nose dive stops ..
Thats all for now.
Battery- has a 9A amaron

Covered 2000 kms already in under a month .
The bike is returning a surprising good fuel efficiency of 37-40kmpl.

Likes
Bike is Torquey--Makes it fun to cruise on the highway with minimal gear shifts.
The headlight reflector spread is brilliant , Complemented with a HID , its Good to keep you at 110 kmph at night.
The braking has improved by leaps and bounds with the tyre set-up.The grip is excellent.

Dislikes
Seat is rock hard , hate it to the core.. needs some attention soon.
Vibes creep in after 100kph, On the footpegs and on the handlebar.. Its not there on my R15 even at 130kph.
Chain makes noise--- But i always have my music on , so i never hear it.

The fibre parts are all well intact , no damages , no vibes , well maintained..

Time for some mods after a few thousand kms...

Santa

. ....

Dark passion

Yellow

An

A

Be

Is it like this ?

This ?

Is it this ?

Mine

Hay

Breakfast

Bread omlette

MehaNdi

Santa

Bug rug pug

Attacked me .

Test

Test

Fined for leaning. Thanks to r15

Beauty treatment for my r15

Beauty treatment ;-)

Re union coll guys

One year on . Coll guys meeting at the old place. Awesome feelin

My new years first meal

Gujju missile

Welcome jan

Eggs .

Just had it now :)

Ganesha

Found this on my processor at my desk:-)

Random !

One evening just before rain began to pour down

Phone phone

Where I make calls from ;-)

Hand

What does your hand say?

Maharashtra on the YZf-R15

MH trip

A 9 day trip to the Shivaji land was on my mind. Applied leaves 2 months in advance.
Leaves got confirmed and I had to get things ready for the ride.

Got a service done and an oil change , had purchased new set of tires before the ride .It cost me 2900 rs and I found it in Mysore .There is a lot of demand for those special tires.

A week before the ride, I had a huge swelling in my eye, It was a sty, An infection. I just hoped that it doesn’t ruin my holiday. Went to the eye specialist and was told that I should recover in like 3-5 days.

2 days before take off

The swelling still persists…

1 day before take off...

Take leave to go to the Doctor. The doctor says its all clear and gives me a green signal.

There was nothing in the bike that needed attention; the bike is so damn reliable. Got a few puncture sticks and I was ready to go. Dumped clothes into the saddle bags that I had borrowed from Akhil. I was unsure as to how it would behave on my bike as its highly aero sensitive. Did a city ride in traffic to get the feel. It was a no problem.

Saturday

Wake up at 01:00 AM, have bath, drink milk, and mount the already packed saddle and tank bags onto the bike. Reach Yeshwantpur Metro at 02:20 AM . Mridul joins me at 02:30 AM.
Its still cold and dark, city’s sleeping, best time to escape from Bangalore city. Else it’s a pain.
Bangalore is a small over crowded outgrown city with a large space constraint.
Lights on and its time to cruise…

Reached Nelamangala toll gate in about 25 to 30 mins , There is construction work going on throughout the way , lots of speed breakers and dust .

From here on its Just 4 lane wide roads for the next 40 kms , Keeping 85-90 kmph constant reached Tumkur and we plan to ride ahead to ChitraDurga without a break.
ChitraDurga is 200 kms from Blr , The roads in c’durga by-pass are non existent. Stopped after the city and its still 5:30 AM.
Stopped for a small 25 mins break and eat Banana chips that Mridul had brought back from his hometown.

Hop on and its ride again to RaniBennur , 100 kms of Bad roads from there on . Its still dark and it gets colder .Increased volume on the i-pod listening to my favorite collection doing 120 + with no sound audible from the exhaust and engine reached Ghar Dhabha at 07:30 AM.(300kms done)
Mridul reached after about 15 mins. Vasanth reached the point after about 5 minutes.

Had breakfast there and then it was 8:45 AM when we left the place. Hubli was the next destination . Its 100 Kms from there.
After crossing Haveri , the roads are good. You can do speeds that your bike maxes out.
Stopped four fuel about 20 kms before Hubli , The others had already refueled at the breakfast point and gone ahead when I stopped for refuelling.I wanted to ride till empty , to get an idea of my fuel effieciency and also that I wasn’t happy with the Shell fuel that I had filled .

I was trailing the other two now .Crossed Hubli (407 kms),took the by-pass to Dharwad, It’s a two lane road now , And Im crazy about two lanes ,It makes me so happy , Opposite traffic makes me active than the fast 4/6 lanes where everyone’s doing good speed , and gets boring until and unless you have a multi cylinder bike that allows you to do 200 kmph.
Doing 120 kmph and seeing a car swoosh by on 6 lane is not my taste.

Two lane road ends after Dharwad,after that found a Tata Safari Dicor ahead of me doing 130 kmph , and that was all I needed , I was constantly doing 127-128kmph even with the luggage and a full tank of fuel.

At one point, I saw the other two guys on the LHS, they dint wave at me, It was me who was alert and pulled over, I dint want to stop, because the road was lovely and I had got the flow .
But still… stopped..

Started again after a while, The roads after Dharwad are brilliant , all you need to do is concentrate and go fast. No Speed Breakers, No stray dogs/cows. No Jay walkers , Nobody . Its an open Highway . Do al speed that you can .
Reached Belgaum and dint stop . Topped when the Odo read 560kms.
30kms on, my Bike is welcomed to Maharashtra. Bike seeing a new state after a long time. First time to MH.

I was hungry and wanted to have lunch at Kolhapur, found a hotel and grabbed something to eat.

230kms from destination its 2:30 PM.

I re-fill up again and back on the road. There was a lot of traffic that had built up in Kolhapur by-pass.
From Kolhapur to Karad , it’s a 4 lane road and not 6 lane. Found a thunderbird that was done up and he was riding with us . He was doing lovely speeds and I was really impressed with it. We stop for tea about 115 Kms from Pune , we are just outside Satara.

We have tea, its ginger tea. I like it, its ginger tea all round MH.

Riding again and contacting hydro ,reached pune by 7:00PM .

Met Hydro after a long time , 844kms on the Odo.

More to come …

Random clicks

YZF R15 14 months/22,000kms report

Hello,
Im back on my blog after a long long time , had taken time off for myself , bored of forums now , thought i ll put up a review my experience with my sports tourer .

Am i happy with the bike still ?
A definite yes ,

The views are same as my 11 months report , will keep it short by telling you things that i haven told before.

Had to change the rear disc pads at 16500kms , it cost about 1115 INR oly.

Changed the spark plug to NGK platinum CR8EGP - Rs 140.
Air filter at 17000kms- Rs 237
Need to change the oil filter sometime soon.

I have been hunting for the tires for the last 4 months , and it has been a pain. MRF is on strike and this tire size and pattern is made only for this particular bike only.
Searched in Hyd, Chennai, Salem , Blr to no luck.
Thanks to shreyas , i managed to find a set of tires in mysore.

Bangalore wheels had a rear tire and they quoted me 3000rs , its like buying in black.
Denied their generous offer and headed to mysore to get my tire .
1100 front and 1800 rs for the rear.
The grip is phenomenal after the change .
The old tires lasted about 21500kms , i could have pushed it for a few thousand kms , but it was too soft and prone to punctures.

There has been no problem with chain even though its an open chain , its just regular maintainence that matters.I lube every now and then and get it washed regularly.

I had been to Goa recently and doing 700kms with this baby super sport will make you forget the kms.
It doesn have the torque like the zma , to comfortably pull from a lower gear , but nowhere will it give a chance to the zma to run away either. Cruising at 100 all day long and getting a mileage of 43-45 kmph on the highway is a breeze on this bike.

Im totally in love with the suspension , after getting used to this , all other bikes feel so so soft and doesn give me the confidence on highways.

one lesson learnt-
had fixed another small horn for testing purpose , It worked well without draining the battery . at one point , it blew out my horn switch . The load was too much.Had to take a HH splendor spring and fix it to work.

Moral of the story - Stick to stock horn.

The tappets need regular adjustment after high speed runs of 4000+kms , they keep getting loose.

P220 dtsi is way faster in 0-100 kmph sprint. Its just an fyi for the guys who still in a dilemna about p220 or r15 .

Iv been using twin HID's for the past one year and haven't faced any sort of battery drain problems with a 3.5mAH .
No problem with cold starts ever , How ever cold its just one push of the starter button . no issues ever. Fi works brilliantly.

The ground clearance is also never a problem , on bad roads or off roading , managed to surprise me everytime . Never the under belly has taken a hit.

Another compliment is to the tires , behaves amazingly well in the rain and still allows u to take corners at decent speeds. MRF deserves a pat for this .
Thats about it for now.
Santa

Bajaj Pulsar 220 dts-I

Bajaj Pulsar 220 dts-I – Can we call it fastest Indian ?

We had a meet on Diwali to test ride the new 09 220 dts-i. We also had an earlier version of the same bike from bajaj to do a comparo. Here what we feel about the bike.

Bike-bajaj pulsar 220 dts-i (2009)
Key features-21 ps , air cooled , secondary oil cooled.
2 valve, carburetted, dual discs.

It was after a long time that I really got my hands on a pulsar, this time on the fastest pulsar till date? Headed out to NICE road, all geared up. I start the bike and I’m welcomed with the “typical” pulsar sound. I take it easy initially to get familiar with the bike. The seating position is pretty comfortable for even a tall person. The split handle bars are comfortable, I was wearing knee guards and dint have a problem with it touching the tank. I slot it into first gear and off I go. The torque is very evident from the word go , and can be felt in any gear at almost any RPM .It pulls effortlessly from as low as 2000rpm even on a little higher gear , this helps you save that extra shift down .0-60kmph comes up in about 4-5 seconds roughly , and it reaches a ton in about 12-13 seconds. All of these speeds are Speedo indicated and necessarily not very accurate.


The Fi version feels more aggressive and fun to ride in the lower range and till about 80 . The response is more linear. Post 80kmph and the 220 dts-I makes its presence felt . What got me surprised was the 220 dts-I doing a ton at a little over 6200rpm .The dts-I has a teeth drop on the lower sprocket .The Fi has a 37 teeth rear , while the carb version sports a 36 rear sprocket. That’s like a boon if your into touring , keep it at a ton all day long and it wont complain , and has got reserve power if given the stick . I managed to do about 135 kmph speedo read sitting upright , crouched and you gain about 10-12 “bajaj”kmph .

The speedo on the DTS-I seemed very optimistic , most of the FI owners also felt that there was some error . I too did feel it on a straight where the fi dint move over 108 kmph , and the dtsi showed about 116kmph .Anyways that shouldn’t be a bother.

The most improved part on the bike is the Transmission, took a little time for me to digest that its really made by BAJAJ themselves. It’s a whole lot improved over any of the previous bikes from the bajaj stable , it even felt better than the DTS-FI . Really good job done there by Bajaj. I dint encounter a false neutral even once even under harsh riding conditions , did a few drag runs and even then the gearbox and clutch was brilliant. No missing-shifts , no jerks .The vibrations are evident on the foot pegs post 100kmph .The fairing vibrations are minimal on this one. Didn’t have rattling noises yet.

To complement the lovely acceleration and crazy torque , to slow the “fastest Indian “ ,it’s got dual discs that works really well compared to the older FI. The braking distance is less and gives you the confidence to push that extra little bit. The front disc now comes with a steel braided brake hose unlike the conventional brake hose. Though the disc size remains the same on both the bikes , the stopping ability is better on the DTS-i. The newer softer tyre compound could also be the reason for the added advantage.

The headlights on the 220 were one of the best on any Indian bike, they remain the same It sports a projector low beam and an ellipsoidal high beam, many of the owners had the same complaints that the focusing needs adjustment on the high beam .The headlight is DC and its powered by a 12v 9AH Maintenance free battery. There is no kick starter on this bike, Just make sure to have your battery in top condition. You wouldn’t want to push the Fastest Indian .

Over to the carburettor, The bike is fed through a 32 mm ucal CV that helps the fastest Indian produce that extra ps over the FI .The addition of the carb has helped bajaj reduce the overall cost by a whopping 10k INR .I personally dint like the auto choke feature , the idling seemed to be on a slightly higher side .few owners complained of cold start problems. Tuning should solve the problem I suppose.

The best value add of the carb is the mileage that it returns , The bike returns an astonishing 45+kmpl on the highway to a litre of fuel ,as claimed by many people. Under normal city riding conditions it returns about 35-40kmpl , which seems good for the power offered.

The handling is something that is nothing to ride home about ,on a straight line , the bike is a rocket , eats up any of the other Indian bikes , when you throw it into a corner and you see its all over the place , the tires are better than FI , but it’s the chassis and the suspension that do not help you even a little bit .The front 37 mm forks take a nose dive on every possible occasion , the rear suspension is no better , its too soft for my liking , the set up is ok for a person who rides in the city with office to home riding .If you need to ride it on other terrains, needs to be adjusted as per need.

The mirrors are really bad for usage, This definitely needs a change. Few owners change it to RTR’s mirrors and say the view is much better.
The 220 dts-i has the power , torque to take you to any terrain , or the highway if you have the tourer bug in you .

My verdict—
If you have 82k with you and want a Value for money package, look no further. Head to a nearest Pro biking showroom and book one for yourself. The extra money can be spent on good riding gear. The refinement level has improved a lot compared, but not to the Honda level .If you don’t mind a little compromise/adjustment then I don’t see any reason not to buy the “fastest Indian”.

The bike actually makes good power , the problem is that the weight of the parts used are too much , Shave off about 10-15kgs and see how the bike performs . hope they do something like that in the near future .


Santa

11 month/15,000kms ride report of r15

Hi
Im back with an update on my bike
Total Kms Done:15000 in 11 months
Total Services: Free- 6
Amount Spent on Service:
1st Service -Rs200(oil)/+ [service]
2nd Service- Rs 200 (oil)/+ [service]+cleaned FI injectors + got AFR adjusted.
3rd Service- Rs 200(oil)/- [service]
4th Service- Rs 200/+ [Oil + service]
5th Service- Rs 200/- [oil+service]
6th Service - Rs 200[oil+pacer's bakwaas service]
Oil used is Yamalube 20w40 mineral oil . No synthetic oil used till date.

Maintainence opening-rs 1000(clutch bell re-setting + cone set overhauling + swingarm overhauling)

Chain lube done by myself regularly
i use tribocor tc40
used 2 cans till now.each can rs 300.
I have the coolant castrol 100rs for half litre.I keep checking every 15 days.

Spent on Spares: Rs. 686 [Front disc pad in 6th service]
Rs. 450 *1 [Oil Filter]
Rs. 237 [Air Filter]
Rs 140 (spark plug)NGK Platinum CR8EGP
Rs 300(puncture repair kit)
------------------------------------------------
Approximate Running cost
------------------------------------------------
Total spent on Services and Spares: 3000Rs------------------------------------------------

I am a tourer. Minimum city riding. max lets say 1000kms of city riding in 15000kms.
Engine: [Rating: ****]
Initially i never wanted this tiny bike. I always wanted a tourer.
There was none. Bought it cos i had to dispose old bike.
U fall in love with the engine oly after u use it for a long time, No love @ first few rides with this.
After 5000kms , u know what u have missed all there years on a bike.
Great engine for a 150 cc. never felt i had downgraded from a 200cc.
Keep it at 9k rpm whole day n it still will not crib.
No drop in oil level , not even 50 ml.
U dont have to think of anythin @ the back of ur mind , be it over heating to noise to vibes.

Build: [Rating: ***]
Delta box rocks.
Rigid ,Forgiving. Takes any terrain, undulations on the road and doesn throw u off balance. u do not need 2 wrestle with it.
The flex is minimum.
The plastic's too are great , easy 2 dismantle , no vibes or noises or rattling , no panel gaps absolutely anywhere. Iv had no rusting nowhere.

Gearbox: [ Rating: *****]
Flawless. Its a yam. Respect honda's and yam here.Takes a lot of abuse.
Shows that u dont need "imported" oil to get a gears to shift better.
No slippage from the clutch

Performance: [ Rating: ****1/2]
iT is a 150 cc bike , with a power of a 200 cc. Thats how i put it.
Its not faster than 220 or zma. But defintely more confidence giving in every other aspect. It makes ur life easier when u ride it. there's not been once that iv felt that this is the limit of the bike and i need to call it quit . i mean be it in cornering or braking .
Ride & Handling:[Rating:*****]
Ride- the zma is better and comfy, nthn really great for touring,
handling is what makes u forget the 1st line.:-D
No comparison here in this and next two segments.

Breaking: [Rating:*****]
Yam's always have had amazing breaks .
I dont know how ppl eat up disc pads in like 3000kms ??
mine is 15k kms and im still running on stock.

Tyres: [Rating: ****]
excellent in dry n rain, suck in slush.
U are blessed with punctures very frequently.That soft.
will last till 23k kms for sure for me.I see no sign of loss in tread.

Electrical: [Rating: ****]
Np at al. i run 2 chinese HID. used it all nyt . NP
Mileage:
In City - 40+ kmpl
Highway- 38+ kmpl

Service.5 stars)
Yam sux yam sux yam sux yam sux yam sux yam sux

Guys at BAngalore wheels are great.they do a gr8 job . other than that. blr chennai and hyd where all iv gone. there are fit to service oly alba 106.

PS.another imp thing.
This bike is highly aero sensitive.even 2 psi inc or dec in air pressure and ur handling is like "i dont need 2 mention the bike's name here"
saddle bags are a big no no while touring.
np with running low petrol in tank. no pblm like rtr fi i mean jerking or switching off.
no pblm of changing fuel filter like 220.
Bike has torque of 15Nm. which is same as the 180 dtsi. but since it is spread over 6 gears . u do not get the feel as much as the pulsars.

Totally worth the package ,main thing is that u get to know what uv been missing all these years riding other bikes.This bike makes ur riding enjoyable, easy and more confidence.
Shows that a bike doesn not mean it needs to have the best top speed or best handling or suspension.
Its the combination of all these that makes me get a smile on my face after every ride.

To me the next ride is more about handling and breaking rather than just one feature of getting there faster. Power is nothing without control.
I like the r15 now more than ever.

I did have a clutch bell noise at(14200kms)after my 600km sprint to hyd in about 7hrs.
got that rectified and it back to stock.

Thx for ur time.
Santa